Happy New Year
by Frozen Time
Summary: Kaida thought New Year was going to be another normal day that year. Hiyoshi decided to shake things up. -dream novel-
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Happy New Year

**Published: **23 January, 2013

**Author: **Ribbon

**Target: **Hiyoshi Wakashi

**Author's Note: **Princo gave me a list to do this story, **so if this story seems really random, then that's why.** This was a story I wrote for Happy New Year, but I just didn't think enough to post it here. Sorry guys. LOL...

* * *

**HAPPY NEW YEAR**

_Chapter One_

I was at a loss for a greater emotion than nonchalance. Three hundred and sixty-six days had passed, but it most certainly didn't feel like, even though it should have. Moving from my childhood home into an apartment with Hiyoshi closer to where I worked and his university was like jumping off a cliff in the first few days. I had been in free fall, basking in nothing but ephemeral thoughts. Then there was work, dues and life commitments got in the way of Hiyoshi, and we considering breaking it off before it had even started. It felt like nothing mattered more than self-preservation.

Somehow, things were resolved. I didn't even know how, but I was glad it happened.

I felt with the way twenty-twelve had been uneven as hills that it deserved a better ending: some way to wrap up the end of the year and conclude that, yes, it had been a struggle, but there had also been the end of the tunnel.

It was three days before New Year, and we spent the last few days at home. Hiyoshi was not enthusiastic about going out; he preferred to steer clear of the crowds. And honestly, I couldn't complain, since:

I had had enough of this year just as much as he had.

The balcony was close enough to being outside for me.

I'd already bought Hiyoshi a present. Hopefully he wasn't aware of that.

Going outside with Hiyoshi wasn't common, so I was used to it. And the only places he really went to were L. Megane, the nearby tennis courts, the bookstore, and rarely, places his friends asked him to accompany them to.

So I wasn't too disappointed that he wanted to stay inside, reading a book about the Renaissance and playing with the abacus he'd dug out recently.

Despite that, I asked him anyway.

"Hey, Wakashi-kun?"

He looked up at me. Even now, I couldn't get used to the fact that he wore glasses.

"Do you want to do anything this year?"

"For?"

Did he, ah, not notice that it was nearly the end of the year? "For New Year."

"I didn't have anything in mind."

"So... you don't want to go and visit your parents? Or mine?"

"I don't think so."

"We could invite some friends over."

"Gekokujou."

I'd never understood what he meant by that. I think that, when we first met, it had some kind of specific meaning to it, but after he realized that I didn't know what he was talking about, he used it in any situation he could, particularly to end conversations.

"Alright..."

He reached forward and flipped up a bead on his abacus so that it read one. After a moment's pause, he flipped up another one and went back to reading his book.

I decided to leave him alone with his abacus and his Renaissance history book, and opted to go outside onto the balcony. It was relatively spacious, so I kept a few plants out here. Recently I discovered a family of beetles living at the base of my mango tree, so I kept myself occupied with them when I had no one else to talk to. It was the middle of winter, so I wanted to make sure they didn't die like my mango tree was about to. Admittedly, it was a strange thing to do, but then again, nothing was strange in this household. The abacus was living proof of that.

Well, not _living._

* * *

The good thing about living with Hiyoshi was that he liked reading books, and was a master at finding storage for them, whatever the cost. Since our apartment was still temporary, in case God decided to hit us with any more life issues, we hadn't invested in a large bookshelf. But we make-did.

Whenever his storage was half-filled, I took advantage of the free space to store my vast record and CD collection. He didn't say anything, but half of the time, I caught him critically eying any musical that didn't strike him as things a person like me should be listening to. I tried to appease him by keeping rows of adult contemporary CDs and traditional pop records everywhere.

I liked to have music playing whenever I could, but adult contemporary and traditional pop weren't the most stimulating things to listen to, unless it was late at night. Hiyoshi accidentally knocked my iPod into a basin full of water a few weeks ago, (1) so the only way I could get my music fix was playing it aloud. (I couldn't think about getting a new one until after the New Year crowd rush was over; it would be suicide otherwise.) It was nice to rediscover some of my vinyl records, but I didn't want to overuse the record player. So more times than often, I got stuck listening to things like _My Heart Will Go On_, by Celine Dion.

It was an interesting experience trying to listen to Celine and read manga at the same time. I was critically eyeing a character's leopard print pants, wondering how she could be so absorbed in her reflection, and so unaware of the hitman sneaking up behind her. It was like the hitman answered my prayers when he finally killed her.

But despite the vivid drawings and the _bang!_ with which her death was depicted, it was very hard to feel in the moment with, _'Near... far... wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on...'_ messing with my head. I was fractions of seconds away from throwing the manga at the stereo, but a disturbing thought crossing my mind stopped me from doing so. I took another look at the drawings and looked at it in another light. I saw more than feelings of animosity between the hitman and the woman, and felt it was more disturbing than any of the death or killing.

I sighed and turned off the music. The apartment fell back into former lonely silence, since Hiyoshi was still sleeping. So I stepped out onto the balcony, folding my arms over the rails and leaning forward. I looked out over the busy city where cars would likely be driving in and out of the city to spend New Year's elsewhere. How nice. Perhaps some were even as lucky as my brother, who was over the horizons.

I was checking on the family of beetles in the mango pot when I heard something that, for once, wasn't adult contemporary. It took me moments to realize that it was the ringtone I used for a certain friend who called way too often about Wakashi. I hurried inside to retrieve my phone and pressed the answer button. "Hello?"

"Tell me you guys have plans for New Year."

I smiled. "We don't, really. Wakashi-kun didn't want to do anything."

"Tch, how typical." Shishido said. "He's not answering his phone. What's that guy doing?"

"He's asleep. Did you need something?"

"Yeah, try telling him to check his messages or actually be awake the hours I call him." He said. "Give him the message for me, will you? I've got to get back to work."

"Today? Isn't it almost New Year?"

"Yeah, right, tell that to the production company." He scoffed. "Tell Wakashi to check his inbox. And he better have a good excuse if he doesn't."

"Okay. I'll tell him when he wakes up."

"Don't forget."

"I won't."

"Thanks."

Then Shishido hung up.

It was nearing lunch time, so going back to sleep was pointless when I was already wide awake. So I turned on TV and started rapidly channel surfing. I saw Elmo on Sesame Street. A show hosted by collaborative doctors. Some drama that was a modern recreation of Sleeping Beauty. An infomercial about an ear-cleaning product.

When I landed on a food channel, it came to my attention that I should make lunch before Hiyoshi woke up, so he wouldn't have to wait for it. I started by making myself a cup of coffee, to whet my appetite before I proceeded to make a quick, simple lunch.

In the processes of searching through the kitchen cupboards for the toaster, I stumbled across a clean, almost-empty cupboard, with nothing but a few books leaning against the edge of the cupboard. I frowned, reading the spines. American history. Theoretical physics. Aristotle's summarized works. Hiyoshi must have taken everything from this cupboard and moved them elsewhere, so as to convert one of the kitchen cupboards into his newest book storage place.

I recalled to some effect that our last storage place—the cabinet under the TV—had filled up rapidly over the past month. Funny how I'd lost count of Hiyoshi's visits to the bookstore.

Said person walked into the living quarters a few moments later and noticed immediately that I was observing his minute book collection. "Oh."

I gave him a hopeful smile. "Do you, ah, remember where you put the toaster?"

His gaze shifted to the neighboring cupboard. I opened it, registering the fact that I was about to be assaulted by a falling toaster. The next moment, Hiyoshi was standing next to me, holding a toaster inches from my head.

"Thanks." I said, feeling a bit unnerved as Hiyoshi set the toaster down on the bench. "Maybe we can find a storage place that's less dangerous."

I moved the cupboards original contents back home, and we found a floor-level shelf for Hiyoshi's new book collection. I moved the useless junk we'd accumulated over the years and decided I would sort through it now. I moved the junk to the bench, and Hiyoshi replaced it with his books.

We really needed to invest in a bookshelf.

I made sandwiches, simply because I was unmotivated, and the thought of cooking anything remotely difficult made me cringe. Tonight was my last shift for the year, and also the last day of the year that the shop would be open. I would be cooking on auto-pilot tonight, and I would have preferred to keep the reminder in the very back of my mind until it came time to face it.

I did a quick scour over the junk, and threw out a brochure on tourism on Chiba. Then I remembered something.

"By the way, Shishido-san called." I said. "He said to check your messages."

"I did that." Hiyoshi said.

"Oh." I said. "What was it?"

"It was just an invitation."

It seemed blatantly obvious that it was an invitation to something Hiyoshi didn't want to attend, so I didn't bother him about it. Hiyoshi went to sit in the living room while I finished sorting through the junk. The first thing he did was flip a bead up on his abacus, and then he went back to reading his book. It was a few seconds before he flipped another one up, so that it read four.

I wondered what he was counting. But I knew better than to ask.

I was so bored out of my mind that I cleaned a window covered in grime, cleared the fridge of off products, and fixed the GPS that had been malfunctioning, all before I had to leave for work. I was enthused that I could drive to work with a working GPS, but on the way to the elevator, I ended up dropping it, and it ceased to work on me. "Shit."

It was very depressing, because I'd wasted several hours fixing that. Though, now that I thought about it, there were multiple depressing things about this afternoon. I wouldn't get to spend time with Hiyoshi because I would be too busy cooking for people. Hiyoshi didn't have classes until after the break was over, so it was discouraging that I couldn't be with him in his spare time. My mind detached from reality, it felt like I had been walking through long, winding hallways before I finally made it to the foot of the staircase. In actuality, it wasn't a far walk.

When I made it to my car, a coworker called—Chie. "Hi, senpai. Are you at work yet?"

"Not yet." I said. "Why?"

She asked to car pool with me because her car wasn't starting for some strange reason. I had no reason to object, other than the fact that I didn't have a GPS to help me to her house this time. And I liked Chie, so it wasn't like I didn't want to give her a ride to work. I said I would be there soon.

I knew she didn't live far away, but she lived some way off course from the restaurant, and it was tedious to maneuver my way through the back streets to avoid traffic—especially without a GPS. I almost got lost, but luckily I found my way. Eventually.

She was already waiting outside.

"Hi. Thanks for taking the trouble to pick me up." She said. She was still a sophomore at university, so she was a few years younger than me.

"That's okay. Any time." I said. Then, I started the car, and we were citybound.

She was the one to initiate the small talk. "Have you got any plans for the New Year?"

"Not really." I said, thinking about Hiyoshi. "My boyfriend is a stay-at-kind kind of guy, so we don't have anything planned."

"Oh." She said, having never been aware that I was in a relationship. "That's unlucky, I guess."

"Yeah. I'll go home tonight and drink jasmine tea to cure the unbelievable headache I will get from tonight's shift." I said. She agreed, guessing how ridiculously busy we were going to be tonight. She would have it difficult trying to shy away from drunk customers, and I would have it difficult trying to resist the temptation of killing myself to keep from cooking so many orders.

"I really don't like working on special holidays." She said, with some animosity. She commented that there was one customer who seemed to have an obsession with her. Most times, he was drunk, and he liked taking the roses from the vase on the table to give to her.

We arrived during a long slum, like we always did. There were no customers between late afternoon and the start of the evening, so I used the spare time to text Hiyoshi that his dinner was in the microwave, and cook myself some dinner (after asking permission from Ari, the head chef, of course). Since I'd arrived, Ari went on his break, and the other chef there, Yuran, went out to the car park to smoke.

While cooking some eggs, _Afterlife_ burst to life in my pocket, so I knew that it was Shishido calling. I tried to juggle talking to him and cooking. "Hi, what can I do for you?"

"Did you tell Wakashi to check his messages?" He sounded a little impatient.

"He said he'd already done it."

"Say _what?_ I still haven't gotten a reply from that guy..."

"He said it was an invitation to something, and I guessed he didn't want to go to it."

"Did he tell you what it was?"

"No, I didn't ask."

Shishido cursed. "There's a New Year's Party at Atobe's Cottage tomorrow night. We have it every year, and he didn't come last year, either. Can you just... convince him to come or something? Now?"

"I'm kind of at work now."

There was a pause. "So he's home alone?"

"Ah... yeah...?"

"And you were _surprised_ that he didn't want to go anywhere this year."

It took me a few moments to realize what he was talking about.

"You think Wakashi-kun doesn't want to go out because I'll be too tired after today's work?"

"Oh, yeah. I think so."

I frowned at Shishido's short-temperedness, but he did kind of have a right to be. I'd never thought about the reason Hiyoshi wanted to say home in that light. I just thought he didn't like going places.

"Can you call him?" Shishido prompted me. "Or just... something, alright? Just do something."

"Okay. Sorry, I didn't really..."

"Idiot. What are you apologizing for?"

I didn't really know either, but Shishido hung up before I could attempt to justify myself. When I hung up, I realized that the eggs had been sitting in the pan for quite a while. I frowned and tipped the overcooked eggs onto a paper towel-lined plate.

Then I called Hiyoshi

Thankfully, he answered. Kaida-san."

"Hi, are you doing anything?"

"No. Shishido-senpai just sent me several text messages."

Ah. "About that..."

"I'm not going."

"He said that you used to go every year."

I could picture him staring blankly at me. "So?"

"He wanted you to go pretty badly."

"That's his problem, not mine." Hiyoshi said. I wasn't sure how to bring up what Shishido told me a moment ago, in case it wasn't true and I ended up making a fool of myself. (Hiyoshi was a very unpredictable person.) So I didn't.

"Well, if you're sure..."

"If it bothers you so much, we'll talk about it later."

He sounded rather firm on not going, but the words he offered were consoling nonetheless. "Okay. I'll see you when I get home."

"Alright."

"But you don't have to wait up for me."

"Alright."

"Bye."

Then we both hung up.

Since there was no one in the VIP section yet, I ate my dinner there and cleaned up after I was done. I clocked on afterwards and got to work.

The customers started trickling in early, but there weren't many of them, so it wasn't so bad. Yuran and I were fine to cook on our own, and were even able to have a lively debate about the legal status of minors and juveniles. Then we were taken by storm, and Ari was forced to cut his break short. We were so rushed off our feet that I had to work through my break. It was lucky that I was too stressed to notice my exhaustion.

I rang the bell at the collection counter, and Chie came to collect the order for one of her tables. She looked reasonably disturbed, and even though time was pressing, I had to ask, "Are you alright?"

"The weird guy is here again." She said, and paused. "Do you know what a Mary-Sue is?"

I gave her an odd look.

"What about a Gary-Sue?"

"Exactly what context did he use it in?"

"Something like... 'the world just can't handle Mary-Sues and Gary-Sues like us.'"

I said something mildly encouraging, and she left me to ponder what Mary-Sues and Gary-Sues were; she still had to deliver orders, and I was pitying Yuran, who looked quite comfortable with the idea of abruptly killing himself. It was predominantly for this reason that I hated the Eve-Before-New-Year's-Eve shift. I had to remind myself that it was me who continually volunteered to be put on, knowing that I would be paid double time and a half, and I had nothing better to do anyway.

It would be worth it, I told myself.

* * *

The last of the customers didn't leave until midnight, laughing and drunk as all hell.

Chie drove my car as far as her house, since she was old enough to drive, and since I might have fallen asleep at the wheel if she hadn't. I didn't want to hit myself with coffee right before I left, since I wanted to go to sleep as soon as I got home and I'd already had enough caffeine on the job. So I had to settle for chewing gum, hoping it would be good enough.

"Happy New Year for the day after tomorrow," I said out the window. She returned the formality and waved, and I made sure that she was inside her house before driving off, this time along the main streets. I prayed that most people would be too occupied at home or at clubs to come outside, but hoped that the streets weren't too dead so that I could be kept awake by glaring headlights.

I thought turning the radio on would help, so I did it. And for some reason, _Beautiful Boy_ by John Lennon was playing. I wanted to check what the radio station was, but I didn't want to take my eyes off the road, especially since my eyes were bleary and my reaction time was dull from my earlier caffeine intake.

The serenading words were an easy trap to fall into. It was to songs like these that I liked closing my eyes and falling asleep. Songs like this on vinyl were like a better version of Crowded House. Sometimes, when Hiyoshi had to stay up late to finish an assignment, he would let me put on _Double Fantasy_ and let it play until it stopped. Most times, I would fall asleep halfway through _Beautiful Boy_.

For a moment, all I felt was a nostalgic, mind-numbing peace. All the lights before my blurry and distant from my concentration, like balls of flying light across an invisible race track.

_Before you go to sleep, say a little prayer._

I felt... infinite.

_Every day, in every day, it's getting better and—_

I snapped into reality when heard a sounding horn and a pair of oncoming headlines. I heard a slew of curses as both the other car and I swerved, narrowly missing each other. I was forced to veer onto the sidewalk, but managed to slam onto the brakes before I crash into the side of the building. I was inches from what would have been a painful breakthrough.

My breathing was ragged, and my heart was trying to throw itself out of my chest. After the few seconds—or maybe minutes—that it took me to recover, I let out a long, relieved sigh. I was in the right lane, wasn't I...? Or if I wasn't, then was I even that far outside of the lane...? I cursed the coffee and my exhaustion.

I pulled up back onto the road, sitting my car next to the sidewalk for a solid twenty minutes to make sure I was fully awake and recovered enough to drive normally. Behind my eyes, I kept seeing lights and heard the horn ringing distantly in my ear, ringing over _Beautiful Boy_. Everything blended together in a way that seemed so strange. I violently rubbed my eyes and worked my fingers across my eyebrows in circular motions. No more falling asleep on the road.

I tried to find something as close to metal as I could. I was in luck; there was a song playing on a modern station that was pure screaming. The song made me distressed and jumpy throughout the drive back to the apartment, but at the very least, I was awake.

When I was inside the apartment, I discovered that Hiyoshi was probably in bed. I spat my gum and all its uselessness into the nearby bin and went to take a short shower. I tried to leave behind the memory of nearly crashing my car... I shivered and tried to push the thought to the back of my mind.

I felt clean after a shower and a change of clothes and slipped into bed beside Hiyoshi. He was a light sleeper, but if he was awake, he made no sign of it. I worked my head under his arm and rested it onto his chest. My bleary eyes managed to make out the time on the bedside table. It was nearly one in the morning.

Almost as soon as I found a comfortable position, I fell asleep.

* * *

At four in the morning I decided that I couldn't sleep, so for a short while I just lay like a stuffed animal next to Hiyoshi. He hadn't moved since I fell asleep, which was a good thing. Sleeping next to Hiyoshi was like sleeping next to a cat. The rise and fall of their chest was their only movement, and they were always warm, no matter what the outside temperature.

After my mind convinced me that I needed the bathroom, I felt that it would be pointless to go back to sleep, so I went to the kitchen and peeled some tangerines on instinct. I wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and settled myself down on the couch, eating tangerines as I checked my phone.

I found a message from my younger sister.

_Uwaa, one more day! x Happy New Year's Eve, sis! Are you coming to visit?_

I stared at the emoticon she used, but I let it slide, since she was still in school. Even though it was a slightly ridiculous hour of the morning, I texted back.

_Right back at you. But I'm staying home, so you guys have fun!_

I couldn't bring myself to play any games directly linked to driving or assassination, and especially not Grand Theft Auto, so I selected a nice role-playing game. It ended up being Breath of Fire, partially because the jazzy soundtrack was relaxing, and partially because I needed Rei to say 'don't that just beat all' one more time to cheer me up.

Hiyoshi woke up to find me playing the PSP at five in the morning. Maybe while debating on going to the bathroom or not, he realized that I wasn't sleeping next to him. Since he usually wasn't awake this early.

"It's kind of early, isn't it?" He commented. I looked up at him while I was halfway through the final battle. I was glad I got to, because staring at Myria's real form just gave me the creeps. The same kind of eerie feeling one got after looking at or eating duck sushi.

"I couldn't sleep." I said. I couldn't turn my PSP off because I'd been playing for a while, and I couldn't exactly save in the middle of the battle. But Hiyoshi came down to sit beside me, so I had to put my PSP down on the table. I didn't really know how to tell him that I almost fell asleep behind the wheel and killed some people last night, so I just hugged him, and he hugged back.

"Did something happen?"

"No... but could you drive me to work and back from now on?"

He raised an eyebrow because he didn't believe 'nothing had happened.'

"Something happened." He said.

"Well, I broke the GPS."

"Something important happened." He corrected himself.

"I almost crashed the car and killed someone?"

He stared at me like my face had been replaced with a unicorn's.

"As in, I _almost_ crashed the car and I _almost_ killed someone."

He relaxed to the slightest degree. The slightest, slightest degree.

I noticed he was suddenly sitting closer. As closer as someone could be whilst in the middle of a hug.

"I was tired last night, and I didn't want to load up on coffee because I was going to come home and sleep..." I said, sighing. "And I turned the radio on, but it kind of lulled me into a daze... you know?"

Hiyoshi didn't say anything. It wasn't like he wasn't mad or anything, but his preferred method of consolation was silent consolation. I liked how he would let me talk as much as I wanted without interrupting or commenting or telling me to never do it again. He would just pat my head, and for some reason, that made a really big difference.

"Go back to sleep." He said after patting my head.

"Let me finish this battle." I said. He nodded and, to my surprise, he flipped a bead down on his abacus, so that it read three. I looked at him curiously, but he just went back to the bedroom, making a quick stop by the bathroom on the way.

When I finished the game, I turned the PSP off and headed back to bed. By that time, it was around twenty to six. Hiyoshi was already there, looking like he was asleep. I curled by beside him, and if he was awake, he didn't protest as I wriggled under his arm. He let me put my head on his chest, and then we fell back asleep.

* * *

**Princo & Ribbon**

_23 January, 2013._

* * *

1. This is an inside joke. LOL. Of all the other random things in this story, this one is the inside joke.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: **Happy New Year

**Published: **23 January, 2013

**Author: **Ribbon

**Target: **Hiyoshi Wakashi

**Author's Note: **Yeah, this really is the most random story I've written. Blame Princo and her list. (And Karel.)

* * *

**HAPPY NEW YEAR**

_Chapter Two_**  
**

"Neya~"

What a funny meow.

I looked down to see a cat brushing against my legs. What good timing, I thought, bending down and starting to pet it. I became so distracted that I didn't notice ten minutes passing.

No one was around, so I decided to bring the cat up to the apartment for a bit, since cats didn't malt in the water and Hiyoshi wasn't allergic to them. It seemed friendly enough, and honestly, I was rethinking my decision to go out on a run. I might get accidentally hit by a car.

Besides, the cat gave me the strong desire to ask Hiyoshi if we could adopt a pet, if not this cat. As far as I knew, the apartments were pet negotiable, because the landlord's son was fond of animals. Only docile animals like cats were allowed, and I thought that this cat would be no exception to that rule.

So I walked back upstairs with the cat in my arms.

"I found this stray downstairs." I said as I walked into the room and set the cat down. It casually surveyed its surroundings and then padded towards Hiyoshi. His gaze followed the cat as it brushed across his legs, and then jumped up onto the couch beside him. That made me smile. "I think it likes you."

Hiyoshi looked from the cat to her. "Weren't you going to go for a run?"

"I was going to, but then I found this cat." I said. "And I thought we could... adopt it."

He considered this. Then he reached forward and flipped a bead down on his abacus, so that it read two instead of three.

"Does it have a name?"

I blinked, having not expected him to give in so easily. But I wasn't complaining.

"Well..." I looked around the room, and my gaze fell on a painting that my mother had given me as an housewarming gift. I never really found out why it was of kiwifruits, but I never complained because it added color to the otherwise dull wall. "Let's call it Kiwi."

He paused, but slowly relented after setting his abacus to one. "Alright."

I went and sat down next to Kiwi. "Kiwi, huh?" I said, scratching it behind the ear. It was purring contentedly. "It's weird, but it's kind of perfect."

Hiyoshi neither agreed nor disagreed. "I'll tell the landlord later."

"Okay." I said, rising from the couch. "Come on, Kiwi."

It followed me to the kitchen when I found the smallest dish we had and sat it on the bench. I went to retrieve some milk from the fridge, and when I came back, Kiwi was on the bench, sniffing at the empty saucer and trying to lick it.

"Not so fast, hot shot." I said, setting the milk down on the bench. Kiwi started towards the milk, but I picked it up and set it on the floor. Then I poured milk in the saucer and set it on the floor. For a few moments, there was nary a sound, save for that of Kiwi lapping up the white liquid.

Then, from my open laptop sitting on the coffee table, I heard the chime of an incoming email. I wondered who it was. When I went to check it, I discovered it was my brother, who I recalled was in Australia with his wife.

He had sent me a picture of what appeared to be the hotel lobby, and a message that was, for some reason, written entirely in English. Thankfully, it wasn't long.

_Hi Kaida. This is the robby of the hotel in Surfers Paradise. Nice right?_

I looked critically at the text, but I had to admit, it was a nice lobby. Very first-class.

I become unintentionally distracted by the computer, barely noticing that I hadn't left after checking my email until Kiwi leaped onto my lap and broke me out of my distraction. I patted it and let it watch as I navigated through a few sites. I was predominantly browsing eBay for secondhand records and bookmarking them.

I discovered I was soon rendered stationary because Kiwi fell asleep on my lap. So I decided to make myself productive while I was at the computer.

"Wakashi-kun?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you want me to make anything in particular tonight? For dinner?"

He thought. Since he didn't really put his heart into celebrating New Year, he wasn't set on eating dishes specifically for New Year, and I didn't feel like making them. The only one I ever tried to put effort into was _shiratama zenzai_—a tribute to my father.

"Flavored shellfish?" I asked. Maybe he would be partial to his favorite food. "Zenzai?"

He shrugged obligingly. I jotted the recipes for flavored shellfish and shiratama zenzai on a nearby notepad, reminding myself that I would have to shop for these ingredients before the stores closed today.

Since I thought flavored shellfish alone would be kind of dull, and typical New Year dishes were fairly overused, I thought I should make something more, too. After navigating through several websites and having to close down several pop-ups, I decided that maybe I could settle on desserts. Maybe giant parfaits, or something equally fabulous.

But, then again, giant parfaits took too long to make, and I was kind of over cooking right now, so I settled for something less tedious. Anything would do. Well, anything except pig feet marshmallows.

Hiyoshi flipped up two beads. His abacus read three again.

_- x -_

I was listening to _A Night at the Opera_ the next morning because I felt like it. When I finished the first side, I flipped it over, unaware that _Bohemian Rhapsody_ lay in wait for me on the other side. When it finally came on, my mind went blank and I thought about lights zipping through space.

I broke out of my trance when the song broke into the operatic section.

_I see a little silhouetto of a man,  
Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the Fandago?  
Thunderbolt and lightning; very, very frightening me!  
Galileo!_

I sighed.

Kiwi hopped up to the bench, and I smiled as I ruffled its hair. Hiyoshi had contacted the landlord, who agreed to let us keep it. Thought he warned us that his son might accidentally kidnap it.

"If it's as friendly as you say..."

"Don't worry." Hiyoshi had said. "He's welcome to as often as he likes."

Having Kiwi was like having a second TV: a form of entertainment with all the weird and wonderful things it did. My favorite was how I'd set up a small area for it to sleep at night, but it refused to sleep there. At night, when I went to sleep next to Hiyoshi (who usually went to sleep earlier than I did), something furry crawled into the bed, over me, and onto Hiyoshi's stomach. It didn't smell, so I didn't chase it away. And Hiyoshi didn't seem to mind, if he was even aware of it, since it went away to wander at the crack of dawn.

Having Kiwi was also like having a mute version of my little sister: comforting—when, in particular, Hiyoshi was absorbed in doing things and I didn't want to bother him, or he was asleep and I was still awake—and very affectionate. With Kiwi, I didn't have to worry about it getting annoyed with me.

I set to work on the New Year's Eve dinner later that afternoon. It was quiet, because Hiyoshi had opted to take a nap in the bedroom and Kiwi joined him. When I went to close the bedroom door, in case I made too much noise while preparing dinner in the kitchen, I saw Kiwi napping on top of Hiyoshi's stomach and gave an amused smile.

On my way to the kitchen, I saw one unread email, so I went to check it. I recalled replying earlier to my brother's email, telling me about Kiwi and making sure he would never write me messages in English again. And sure enough, it was his email waiting:

_Haha! Okay, Kaida, just for you. Send me pictures of your cat?_

He had some more pictures attached, and a few paragraphs detailing their adventures thus far.

_We haven't set foot far from the hotel. We went shopping at a nearby place, and Kairi bought a scarf. I'm not sure why she chose that of all the other things she could have bought, though. Women logic?_

I looked at the picture of Kairi and my brother. She was wearing a scarf that resembled something Ryan Ross would wear.

_And get this: there is barely any rice in Australia! It's all steak and bread! ): And their vegetarian pizza is just like normal pizza, only it has vegetables on top. And it has cheese. Nothing like okonomiyaki. I miss that so much. Cook me some when we get back?_

The beaches are really nice, though. Nothing like Japanese beaches. I'm talking about real Californian golden beaches, only... not in California. Puts our beaches to shame, really. Kairi tried to get me in a speedo so we could swim, but I refused. ;) We went back to the hotel afterwards. I came across this really interesting cartoon, too. It's called Teen Titans. Have you heard of it? It's similar to our cartoons, only with worse drawings and weirder names. Starfire is a way, way weirder name than something like Lyndis.

_Well, I will leave you be. I believe you guys are an hour behind us, so Skype me an hour before New Year for you so I can rub it in your face. :D Send me pictures of your cat and I'll buy you a souvenir._

It sounded like he was having fun in Australia. Good for him.

I typed a quick reply back to him, and then decided that I really should get working on dinner. In the midst of preparing my ingredients, I realized that I'd forgotten to buy the ingredients for the pirikara kon'nyaku, which I'd decided to throw in at the last minute. I left a note for Hiyoshi in case he woke up, telling him where I'd gone, and pocketed my cell phone just in case. Then I went next door and asked my neighbor, Shiraga, if I could borrow her bicycle, since the convenience store was kind of far and I didn't want to take the car. I was kind of terrified of cars at the moment.

She said yes, because she didn't need it right now. I could see she was busy preparing for her New Year's party.

"Okay. Do you want me to bring you anything back?" I asked. "Supplies, or...?"

She thought for a moment, disappearing momentarily inside and reappearing with a supply list. She crossed off items she already had, and handed it back. "Let me just find some money..."

I looked over the list. None of it looked substantially expensive, and my pay from the Eve-of- New-Year's-Eve would replenish my savings soon enough. "It's okay." I assured her. "It's the bike fee."

"I don't charge for my bike."

"Then it's a New Year's present."

"If you're sure..." She said uneasily, obviously not wanting to waste any time arguing. "Oh, now that I think of it, why don't you come over tonight with Hiyoshi-san? You're welcome to join the party."

It sounded kind of like a mercy date, and anyway, there was still an invitation that Hiyoshi had received from Shishido. If Hiyoshi wanted to go to a party, he would have accepted Shishido's invitation.

"That's alright." I said, smiling. "I think Wakashi-kun is partial to an ordinary countdown to New Year."

She didn't want to stand there and chat because she still had things to do, so she didn't try to change my mind. "If you have second thoughts, just invite yourselves over."

"Okay." I said.

I headed downstairs and had just unlocked Kaida's bicycle when I heard my cell phone ringing. I thought it might be Hiyoshi, but then discarded that thought it for two reasons: one, Hiyoshi had an exclusive ringtone; and two, he was usually content to wait patiently for my return.

I was hearing the ringtone I used for my friends minus Shishido (and Ootori, who liked to call equally as much as Shishido), because I wouldn't be able to remember who was who if I gave too many people exclusive ringtones. Thus it became a Hiyoshi-and-people-who-call-too-much-only privilege.

I answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Ore-sama is cross with you." (1)

Ah. "Atobe-san?"

"You are a very stupid woman, Aihara."

I didn't really feel like addressing whatever problem Atobe had with me. I would prefer to have Hiyoshi wake up to dinner instead of me fastidiously preparing it. "Yeah."

A sigh on the other end of the line. "Ore-sama does not think you realize the depth of the situation."

"What are you talking about?"

"Allow Ore-sama to grace you with good advice: say yes when the time comes."

"Atobe-san, are you high? On drugs?"

"Otherwise Ore-sama will be displeased."

"Okay... I think."

"Ore-sama is glad you understand."

"I'm... glad to have made you glad."

"Ingrain this conversation into your memory."

"... Okay?"

I heard a satisfied sound on the other end of the line. "Good." He said. "Ore-sama expects you to think of a good New Year's resolution."

Then he hung up. When I pulled the phone from my ear, I gave it an extremely confused look before pocketing it and peddling off to the corner store. I didn't think Atobe was high, but something must have triggered such a strange, sporadic and completely confusing conversation.

I felt very conscious of myself while riding, partly because I had _no_ idea what Atobe was on about, and partly because I was just conscious of being on a road. I rode quickly, but no so that I would be unsuspectingly hit by a car coming around a corner. I found myself looking critically into every blind spot mirror I could find, just in case there really was a car waiting to hit me.

I stopped at the convenience store to gather my materials before heading back home.

The last thought in my mind was what Atobe had said about resolutions.

_- x -_

Part of the reason that I liked giving New Year's gifts to Hiyoshi was simply because I felt like it. The other part was that, before Kiwi, I had no one else to splurge my savings on.

Besides, if I bought presents for only one person, then I had more time to put thought into the gift and be individualistic about it. I'd bought Hiyoshi's present months ago: a book that overlapped time travel with theoretical physics. I sounded like something he would like: history and math together in one book. I didn't know if it was what Hiyoshi considered a 'rare book,' but I bought it secondhand, so I thought he might like it.

At the last minute, I also bought Kiwi some new dishes and a litter box, since we'd been make-doing with things we were going to throw away later anyway. It couldn't give a human reaction, but I assumed that it was pleased with something that held water on the left and food on the right.

Before I started dinner, I gave Hiyoshi his book, and he looked approvingly at it. Or, as approvingly as Hiyoshi could look. He flipped a bead up on his abacus so that it read four, and then he moved it off the table, setting it beside his book. I set dinner out on the table, and we started eating.

There wasn't a great diversity in food, but Hiyoshi didn't appear to mind. That was a good thing, because after the-Eve-before-New-Year's-Eve, I didn't really feel like cooking.

"Does it taste okay?" I asked. I was always waiting for a day when Hiyoshi would say no so I would feel more motivated to cook, but he never did. He always said yes and went back to eating. I couldn't tell if he was trying to make me feel better or legitimately didn't mind my cooking, but I never asked. Maybe he didn't care that I hadn't put much effort into it. Maybe it was because he knew that I cooked basically every day of the year for the restaurant and it bored me to do it at home, too.

I decided my New Year's resolution was to be a better girlfriend to him.

"Hey, Wakashi-kun, have you decided what your New Year's resolution was?"

He nodded mid-way through chewing. I didn't expect he was going to say what it was, and sure enough, I was right. "What about you?"

"Yeah, I decided on something."

He looked at me expectantly. Waiting.

"I thought I should improve as a girlfriend, you know?"

He was a hairbreadth away from putting dishing some rice and flavored shellfish in his, but paused and slowly lowered his chopsticks. "In what way?"

"Well, I'm overly affectionate."

"So?"

"I never put much effort into cooking for you."

"So?"

"I'm lazy."

"So?"

"I think I'm kind of clingy?"

"So?"

I opened my mouth to list many, many other reasons why I was a flawed human being—and lo, we could have gone on all night—but he interrupted me with a sigh.

"Do you think I would be dating you if those things bothered me?" He said, making me blink dubiously. He had a good point.

Kiwi politely butted in our conversation once it finished its own dinner. I came over and reached to paw at ours, but Hiyoshi touched its paw and moved it away in a, 'No. Don't interrupt' fashion. Rejected, Kiwi crawled under the table, and I felt it crawling into my lap. I smiled.

"That's a good point."

Hiyoshi sensed I was holding something back. "What?"

"... Shishido-san sent you an invitation to a party, right?"

He nodded to confirm.

"Is there a reason you didn't accept? I mean, Shishido-san was very insistent in you coming, but you stayed home anyway." I said. "And I heard that you went every other year, except last year.'

"I didn't want to go."

I didn't want to pester it, but something pestered me to go one more step. Maybe it was my inner Ore-sama social link. No, that was a bad use of social links in context. "You wouldn't have liked it? You're such good friends with them all, so I thought..."

Hiyoshi blinked. "I wanted to stay home. I don't see why it's such a big deal."

"You're only ever stopped attending once we moved into the apartment."

"That was two years ago. Is it so strange to skip two parties?"

I really did want to keep asking, but I felt as though I'd pushed it enough, and it wasn't helping that I didn't get to the point. Besides, _was_ it really so strange for Hiyoshi to skip a few parties? He didn't want to go. It was as simple as that. What need was there in continually asking?

So I just said, "I guess not." And after a brief, awkward silence, we went back to eating.

When we finished, Hiyoshi helped me clear the dishes. I wished, and he dried, just as usual. I was content with the silence, though should any of it have been discomforting, it was most likely on my part.

Hiyoshi's eyes were cast out the window, and I felt awkward one-sidedly staring at him, so I followed his gaze out the window. Good thing I cleaned it; the view across the city skyline was clear—particularly clear for winter. More times than often, it would be snowing about now.

When the dishes were dried and put away, Hiyoshi said I should put some music on. I blinked, wondering what was appropriate for New Year's Eve, what was appropriate for Hiyoshi's ears, and what was appropriate for this general moment. I decided upon _Moon River and Other Great Movie Themes_, simply because traditional pop felt relevant and I liked _The Theme from A Summer Place_. Once it was playing, I rose to my feet and looked for Hiyoshi. I noticed that the balcony door was open, and realized he was outside, leaning against the rails, as if waiting for something to happen. Kiwi was there with him, having made itself comfortable on the table next to him. Hiyoshi blinked and let his fingers dangle towards Kiwi. It stretched up to rub its cheek against his hand.

I joined the two of them out on the balcony, feeling the chilly wind hit me: cold, but fresh. I stood close to Hiyoshi, and he put an arm around my shoulder. He didn't seem to mind when I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"I owe you five things."

He broke the silence so abruptly that I almost jumped.

I had no idea what he was talking about, so I just gave him a confused long. For once, he went on.

"My New Year's resolution," he said, "was to start paying you back for things I owed you."

"But you don't owe me anything..."

"I do. I was counting."

An image drifted into my mind, of Hiyoshi reading _The Renaissance_, his abacus at the ready. "You were... counting things from our daily conversations? That you felt you owed me?"

"From the last three days." He clarified.

I didn't know what to say. "Then... what... you counted backwards, too, didn't you?"

"I wasn't going to." He said. Then he began to list off the things he had already paid back. "I agreed to drive you to work. I let you adopt the cat. I let you call it something ridiculous."

I smiled sheepishly. I felt him squeeze my shoulder gently.

"I had something planned tonight." He went on. "So I didn't go to the party."

"You didn't want to go because you wanted to pay me back?"

"Yes." He said. I felt his hand drop. "Wait here."

Hiyoshi ghosted past her and back inside. Kiwi flicked its tail, perhaps debating whether to scamper after him or not, but he was back before it could make up its mind. He was holding things behind his back.

He began, "I also didn't kill that family of beetles whilst I had the chance."

I laughed. Good thing he owed me.

"The rest are these."

Then he revealed what was behind his back and extended the contents to me. I looked in disbelief as he handed me, in vinyl, _The Best of ABBA_ and _West Side Story_.

"Here are two more." He said.

"More like _ten._" ABBA and West Side Story, in the vinyl. Like a dream. "Where did you get these from?"

"You had them bookmarked on your laptop."

That was something unexpected. Hiyoshi preferred pen and paper to a computer, so he rarely used one. "This is... perfect."

Hiyoshi thought for a moment. "That's six favors."

He went through them again, just to make sure: he agreed to drive me to work from now on. He let me keep the cat. He let me give the cat a ridiculous name. He didn't kill the beetle family when he had the chance. He gave me _The Best of ABBA_. He gave me _West Side Story_. Six.

"So..." ABBA. West Side. "The reason you didn't go to the New Year's party is because of this?"

"It wouldn't have been very personal if I didn't pay the favors back in private." He said. "Which is why..."

And then he descended to his knees. He searched from something in his back pocket, and when he found it, he extended it towards me. A ring.

I stared. On the inside of it was engraved, _'just the girl.'_

"For an engagement." Hiyoshi said, in case I misunderstood, got scared and ran away because I didn't want to be permanently tied down just yet. And maybe it was just my imagination or lack of better lighting on the balcony, but I could almost see the smallest of smallest of smiles in his face. Like a hopeful gesture.

I was struck, torn between resisting the temptation to throw myself at him and think of a more sensible approach to this.

Hiyoshi answered for me. "You can say no if you want to."

There was an eerily familiar touch to his words, and that was when I remembered something. That conversation...

Atobe had known about this all along. He was the one who told me to say yes. And the party... well, I wasn't sure what relevance that had. Maybe Atobe wanted to give Hiyoshi the spotlight for a chance, or maybe it was completely irrelevant.

_Allow Ore-sama to grace you with good advice: say yes when the time comes._

I smiled.

_I don't need you to tell me that, Atobe-san._

"You know, you never asked the question." I said as I lowered myself to my knees. There was a grin on my face.

Hiyoshi never seemed to think there was a question involved. "Be my fiancée?"

I laughed. "Of course."

It was almost perfect timing, for we heard abrupt sounds: loud cracks, like soft gunshots. They were the fireworks going off, a reminder that the country was still the ghost of 2012. While I was busy being fascinated by the myriad of exploding colors, Hiyoshi snuck the ring onto my finger. It was a discreet affair.

He took me by the shoulder, and we both rose to meet the balcony. The fireworks were at the height of all their power and glory, expanding from their point of combustion and clouding the sky like a diffuse nebula. It was lucky our apartment was at an advantageous point.

Hiyoshi noticed I was trembling. "Are you cold?"

I didn't think so. I just laughed nervously and said, "No... but the fireworks just seem uncanny." Honestly, at any moment, I was waiting to see Atobe's face in a rainbow of exploding colors and an, _'Ore-sama told you so.' Or something similar._

Hiyoshi seemed to understand.

"Wakashi?"

A pause. "Kaida."

"You're missing a favor."

There was a pause, most likely in which Hiyoshi was counting the favors. Maybe since he toyed with the abacus so much, it slipped his mind as to many favors he owed me. I recounted them all for him, but silently, I didn't care that Hiyoshi hadn't 'repaid all his favors.' There were never really any favors to repay. I just wanted to see what he would come up with next.

He looked down at Kiwi, as if for advice or encouragement. Then he looked back at me.

Abruptly, he kissed me.

He broke away before I had a chance to realize what happened.

"Debts repaid?"

It took a small while to process the happenings of the past four seconds. I ended up smiling. "All your debts are repaid."

He relaxed.

"Though..."

"Hmm?"

"I still owe you something."

He looked half-questioningly, half-expectantly at me.

It wasn't hard to decide what I was going to do. "I love you."

Those were the words that were like taboo in our relationship, as strange as it was. The closest thing we had said to it was 'I like you,' back when we first started dating.

He pulled me close enough that he could lean his cheek on top of my head (him being slightly taller than me and all). And I could feel the muscles in his face rising, as if he were smiling, but he didn't want me to see.

In turn, a smile appeared on my own face. "Happy New Year, Wakashi."

He, in turn, said, "Happy New Year."

_- fin_

* * *

**Princo & Ribbon**

_January 24, 2013._

* * *

1. It felt necessary to use 'ore-sama' in place of 'I.' Don't ask why. LOL.


End file.
